How these red ribbon skirts honour the memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
100 red ribbon skirts are how Jamie Smallboy and volunteers give back to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Jamie Smallboy says hearing the sound of the drums at a Women's Memorial March in Vancouver several years ago marked a turning point in her life.
Smallboy, who was homeless at the time, says she thought she was hallucinating when she turned the corner onto East Hastings Street to see thousands of Indigenous people and allies marching. When she asked a bystander what they were marching for, she was told it was to honour and remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).
"It made me cry because when I was homeless there were girls and women who taught me how to survive ... there are some of those girls [who] to this day I don't know what happened to them. They were part of my daily life and then they were just gone.
"Nobody ever knew what happened to them. They just disappeared."
Smallboy says feeling the spirit of the Women's Memorial March, which takes place on Feb. 14 in Vancouver each year, set her on a journey to begin reconnecting with her Indigenous roots — a journey that has led her to co-ordinate a project memorializing missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The idea for it began when she decided to return to Indigenous ceremonies, but realized she didn't have a skirt to wear to them, as is part of cultural protocol. Smallboy's sister, Josephine, gifted her two ribbon skirts.
Ribbon skirts and Indigenous culture
In many Indigenous cultures, women wear skirts to ceremonial and cultural events. The ribbon skirt has numerous teachings, including that its shape resembles a teepee. When worn, the skirt envelops the wearer's womb — and the life they are capable of holding within them — just as teepees have sheltered and sustained the lives of some First Nations people.
Smallboy, who is Cree from Maskwacis, recalls being eight years old and attending a ceremony with her mother and aunties where each girl and woman wore her own ribbon skirt with unique colours.
"I remember feeling sacred because we had our own colour of dress, that was my identity in the ribbon [skirt]. That's one of the times in my life that I felt the most genuine of who I am, was in that teepee in my ribbon [skirt]."
Wanting to bring that same sense of identity to women who, like her, may not have something to wear to ceremonies, Smallboy had the idea to make red ribbon skirts for families affected by the MMIWG crisis.
While the ribbon is modern, First Nations women have always worn skirts to ceremonies. In the past, they were made with animal hides such as bison or deer. Today's skirts are often made with cotton, with colourful ribbons added onto them to carry a special meaning.
For the last six years, volunteers — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — have made Smallboy 's vision a reality, gathering together on the weekends ahead of the annual march to sew 100 red ribbon skirts. The skirts are then gifted to families at the march who are affected by the MMIWG crisis, with funding for supplies coming from the memorial march committee.
Smallboy says every skirt is made with love and prayers that the woman who receives it is reunited with her missing or murdered loved one.
Significance of red
This year, due to her health, Smallboy has passed the project over to another long-time MMIWG advocate, Billie Sinclair.
Sinclair says she does the work in honour of her aunt, Georgina Papin, whose remains were found on serial killer Robert Pickton's farm in Port Coquitlam in July 2002, three years after she was reported missing.
Sinclair, who is from the Nisga'a Nation, says the colour red was chosen for the skirts because Indigenous spirits and ancestors are able to see it.
Coordinating the Red Ribbon Skirt Project for the first time this year, Sinclair says she was nervous about balancing the project and her full-time job. But she says it has energized her.
"I was a little bit worried [about] taking on too much, but when I come each week, I don't feel depleted, I feel like it's filling my cup," she said.
Sinclair looks forward to coming back to the project next year and hopes to build more connections in the community.
Smallboy says women from Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Seattle have all reached out to her to share their own ribbon skirt project or to ask for help to start their own.
"I'm grateful to see that the spirit of the Red Ribbon [Skirt] Project is continuing not just in Vancouver but across the border and in other provinces," said Smallboy.
34 years of marching
The 34th annual Women's Memorial March in Vancouver is led by a committee of Indigenous women. The first march happened in 1992 after Cheryl Ann Joe, a 26-year-old Shíshálh woman, was murdered on Powell Street.
"We continue to have to bring attention to the same issues of Indigenous women being murdered and going missing," said Veronica, who goes by her first name. She is on the memorial march committee and also volunteers at the Red Ribbon Skirt Project each year.
The march offers families affected by MMIWG a space to gather and grieve, Veronica says, noting that life is often so busy that grief and mourning end up being rushed.
Veronica, whose big sister died when she was young, says the pain of losing a loved one never goes away.
"This march is for all of us to come together as one heart, one mind, one prayer for the women who are missing and who have been murdered."
Crisis support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people through a national 24-hour hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
Health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers are available through the government of Canada. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.
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